U.S. patent number 7,422,170 [Application Number 11/704,629] was granted by the patent office on 2008-09-09 for leaves and seeds hand grinder.
Invention is credited to Fan Bao.
United States Patent |
7,422,170 |
Bao |
September 9, 2008 |
Leaves and seeds hand grinder
Abstract
A grinder includes a grinder housing having a grinder actuator,
a first grinding plate, a second grinding plate and a detachable
coupling arrangement. The first grinding plate is detachably
coupling with the grinder actuator, wherein the first grinding
plate has a plurality of first grinding knifes downwardly and
spacedly extended from a bottom side of the first grinding plate.
The second grinding plate has a plurality of second grinding knifes
upwardly and spacedly extended from the top side of the second
grinding plate at a position that the first and second grinding
knifes are spacedly disposed within a grinding compartment, such
that when the grinder actuator is turned with respect to the
grinder base to drive the first grinding plate to rotate, the first
and second grinding knifes are correspondingly moved within the
grinding compartment to provide a grinding action.
Inventors: |
Bao; Fan (City of Industry,
CA) |
Family
ID: |
39685015 |
Appl.
No.: |
11/704,629 |
Filed: |
February 9, 2007 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20080191073 A1 |
Aug 14, 2008 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
241/168;
241/169.1; 241/273.3 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B02C
18/24 (20130101); B02C 18/08 (20130101); A47J
42/34 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47J
17/00 (20060101); A47J 43/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;241/168,169,169.1,273.3 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Miller; Bena
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Chan; Raymond Y. David and Raymond
Patent Firm
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A grinder, comprising: a grinder housing comprising a grinder
base and a grinder actuator detachably coupling with said grinder
base, and forming a grinding compartment therebetween; a first
grinding unit detachably coupling with said grinder actuator,
wherein said first grinding unit comprises a first grinding plate
and a plurality of first grinding knifes downwardly and spacedly
extended from a bottom side of said first grinding plate; a second
grinding unit detachably coupling with said grinder base, wherein
said second grinding unit comprises a second grinding plate and a
plurality of second grinding knifes upwardly and spacedly extended
from said top side of said second grinding plate, wherein said
grinding compartment is formed between said first and second
grinding plates that said first and second grinding knifes are
spacedly disposed within said grinding compartment, such that when
said grinder actuator is turned with respect to said grinder base
to drive said first grinding plate to rotate, said first and second
grinding knifes are correspondingly moved within said grinding
compartment to provide a grinding action; and a detachable coupling
arrangement comprising a first magnetic element affixing to said
first grinding plate, and a second magnetic element which is
affixed to said second grinding plate to align with said first
magnetic element, wherein said first magnetic element is
magnetically attached to said second magnetic element to detachably
couple said first grinding plate with said second grinding plate so
as to allow said first and second grinding plates detaching with
each other and rotating with each other to correspondingly move
said first and second grinding knifes within said grinding
compartment.
2. The grinder, as recited in claim 1, wherein said grinder
actuator comprises a ring shaped transmission member rotatably
disposed in said grinding compartment at a position that an upper
circumferential edge of said transmission member is engaged with a
peripheral edge of said first grinding plate and a lower
circumferential edge of said transmission member is biased against
a peripheral edge of said second grinding plate, and a top
actuation cap, which is detachably engaged with said grinder base
in a rotatably movable manner having a peripheral rim coupled with
said upper circumferential edge of said transmission member such
that when said top actuation cap is rotated, said first grinding
plate is driven to rotate through said transmission member so as to
correspondingly move said first and second grinding knifes within
said grinding compartment.
3. The grinder, as recited in claim 2, wherein said upper
circumferential edge of said transmission member, having a L-shaped
cross section, has an inner engaging groove engaging with said
peripheral edge of said first grinding plate so as to embed said
first grinding plate at said upper circumferential edge of said
transmission member, such that said transmission member not only
transmits a rotational force from said top actuation cap to said
first grinding plate but also retains said first and second
grinding plates at an uniform distance.
4. The grinder, as recited in claim 3, wherein said peripheral rim
of said top actuation cap having a L-shaped cross section and
forming an inner holding groove to engage with said upper
circumferential edge of said transmission member and said
peripheral edge of said first grinding plate.
5. The grinder, as recited in claim 2, wherein said grinder base
comprises a tubular shelter, which is detachably engaged with said
top actuation cap, having an engaging rib protruding from an inner
wall of said tubular shelter to engage with said peripheral edge of
said second grinding plate so as to retain said second grinding
plate in position.
6. The grinder, as recited in claim 4, wherein said grinder base
comprises a tubular shelter, which is detachably engaged with said
top actuation cap, having an engaging rib protruding from an inner
wall of said tubular shelter to engage with said peripheral edge of
said second grinding plate so as to retain said second grinding
plate in position.
7. The grinder, as recited in claim 5, wherein said grinder base
further comprises a bottom actuation cap detachably engaging with
said tubular shelter and arranged in such a manner that when said
top and bottom actuation caps are rotated back and forth
correspondingly, said first and second grinding knifes are moved
rotated back and forth correspondingly in a grinding manner.
8. The grinder, as recited in claim 6, wherein said grinder base
further comprises a bottom actuation cap detachably engaging with
said tubular shelter and arranged in such a manner that when said
top and bottom actuation caps are rotated back and forth
correspondingly, said first and second grinding knifes are moved
rotated back and forth correspondingly in a grinding manner.
9. The grinder, as recited in claim 7, wherein said second grinding
plate has a plurality of collecting holes spacedly formed thereon
to communicate said grinding compartment with an interior of said
bottom actuation cap such that when said first and second grinding
units are driven for grinding objects within said grinding
compartment, said grinded objects are dropped and collected at said
bottom actuation cap through said collecting holes.
10. The grinder, as recited in claim 8, wherein said second
grinding plate has a plurality of collecting holes spacedly formed
thereon to communicate said grinding compartment with an interior
of said bottom actuation cap such that when said first and second
grinding units are driven for grinding objects within said grinding
compartment, said grinded objects are dropped and collected at said
bottom actuation cap through said collecting holes.
11. The grinder, as recited in claim 9, wherein said aid grinder
base further comprises a filtering holder detachably mounting
between said bottom actuation cap and said tubular shelter and a
filtering layer mounted within said filtering holder for filtering
said grinded objects being dropped from said collecting holes and
collected at said bottom actuation cap.
12. The grinder, as recited in claim 10, wherein said aid grinder
base further comprises a filtering holder detachably mounting
between said bottom actuation cap and said tubular shelter and a
filtering layer mounted within said filtering holder for filtering
said grinded objects being dropped from said collecting holes and
collected at said bottom actuation cap.
13. The grinder, as recited in claim 1, wherein detachable coupling
arrangement further comprises a first magnetic housing provided at
a center of said first grinding plate to retain said first magnetic
element in position, and a second magnetic housing protruded from a
center of said second grinding plate to retain said second magnetic
element in position so as to alignedly guide said second magnetic
element to magnetically attach to said first magnetic element.
14. The grinder, as recited in claim 6, wherein detachable coupling
arrangement further comprises a first magnetic housing provided at
a center of said first grinding plate to retain said first magnetic
element in position, and a second magnetic housing protruded from a
center of said second grinding plate to retain said second magnetic
element in position so as to alignedly guide said second magnetic
element to magnetically attach to said first magnetic element.
15. The grinder, as recited in claim 12, wherein detachable
coupling arrangement further comprises a first magnetic housing
provided at a center of said first grinding plate to retain said
first magnetic element in position, and a second magnetic housing
protruded from a center of said second grinding plate to retain
said second magnetic element in position so as to alignedly guide
said second magnetic element to magnetically attach to said first
magnetic element.
16. The grinder, as recited in claim 1, wherein said first and
second grinding knifes are perpendicularly extended from said first
and second grinding plates respectively.
17. The grinder, as recited in claim 15, wherein said first and
second grinding knifes are perpendicularly extended from said first
and second grinding plates respectively.
18. The grinder, as recited in claim 1, wherein said first and
second grinding plates are supported in a parallel manner that said
first grinding knifes are offset from said second grinding knifes
within said grinding compartment such that a circular moving path
of each of said first grinding knifes is different from that of
each of said second grinding knifes.
19. The grinder, as recited in claim 6, wherein said first and
second grinding plates are supported in a parallel manner that said
first grinding knifes are offset from said second grinding knifes
within said grinding compartment such that a circular moving path
of each of said first grinding knifes is different from that of
each of said second grinding knifes.
20. The grinder, as recited in claim 17, wherein said first and
second grinding plates are supported in a parallel manner that said
first grinding knifes are offset from said second grinding knifes
within said grinding compartment such that a circular moving path
of each of said first grinding knifes is different from that of
each of said second grinding knifes.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a grinder, and more particularly
to a grinder wherein a first grinding plate is capable of being
detached from a second grinding plate so as to minimize the
manufacturing cost and ease of operation of the present
invention.
2. Description of Related Arts
A conventional grinder usually comprises a first grinding unit and
a second grinding unit operatively coupled with the first grinding
unit to form a grinding cavity within the grinder for grinding a
predetermined amount of objects, such as leaves, tobacco, and the
likes.
More specifically, the first grinding unit comprises a first
grinder housing, and a first grinder knife integrally mounted on
the first grinder housing, whereas the second grinding unit
comprises a second grinder housing, and a second grinder knife
integrally mounted on the second grinder housing for coupling with
the first grinding unit. The first grinder knife comprises a first
supporting member and a plurality of first knife blades extended
from the first supporting member, while the second grinder knife
comprises a second supporting member and a plurality of second
knife blades extended from the second supporting member towards the
first supporting member for forming the grinder cavity between the
first supporting member and the second supporting member. In order
to grind leaves, for example, a user of the conventional grinder
needs to put a predetermined amount of leaves into the grinding
cavity, wherein the first and the second grinder knifes are driven
to rotate in opposite directions respectively for cutting the
finely leaves within the grinder cavity by the first and the second
knife blades. As such, the leaves disposed within the grinder
cavity are then grinded into tiny small pieces or even into
powdered form for further use by the user. Very often, the
conventional grinder may further comprise a collection arrangement
coupled with the second grinder unit whereas the second supporting
member further has a plurality of through collection slots formed
thereon for allowing the grinded objects to drop into the object
collection arrangement through the collection slots.
These are several disadvantages in association with this
conventional grinder. First, for almost all conventional grinders,
each of the first and the second grinding unit is usually an
integral structure manufactured from a predetermined kind of
materials, such as metallic materials. As a result, the
first/second grinder housing is integrally connected with the
corresponding grinder knife. Thus, one has to manufacture the
grinder housing, the supporting member and the corresponding
grinder knife in a one-piece manner. The problem, however, is that
it is difficult and rather expensive to manufacture the grinder
housing, the supporting member and the grinder knife as an integral
one-piece structure. It utilizes the complicated CNC machine
procedures. The procedure is time-consuming and also wastes large
amount of material.
The second disadvantage is in relation to the one disadvantage.
Since the first and the second grinding unit is manufactured as a
one-piece integral structure, and that the first and the second
grinding unit usually made of metallic materials, these make
electroplating of the first and the second grinding unit
inconvenient and effectively curtailing the possibility of having
sophisticated aesthetic appearance on the part of the grinding
unit: it is far more easier to electroplate separate components
with different colors or aesthetic appearance than making the same
aesthetic patterns in one integral one-piece structure. Since the
majority of grinders are not expected to be high-end products,
manufacturers simply cannot spend much money for adopting highly
complicated manufacturing procedures. Moreover, since the grinder
housing, the supporting member, and the grinder knife are made from
the same predetermined material, conventional grinders
substantially limited their use. For example, grinders made from a
particular material may only be used for grinding a certain kinds
of objects, and may not be utilized for grinding a wider selection
of other objects. As a result, the circumstances in which
conventional grinders can be used strictly depend on which
materials are utilized for manufacturing them.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
A main object of the present invention is to provide a grinder
wherein a first grinding plate is capable of being detached from a
second grinding plate so as to minimize the manufacturing cost and
ease of operation of the present invention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a grinder
comprising a detachable coupling arrangement for facilitating
effective operation of the grinder while allowing effective
detachment of the first grinding plate from the second grinding
plate.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a grinder
wherein the first grinding plate is detachable from the second
grinding plate so as to allow the present invention to be easily
and economically manufactured, and easily decorated with a wide
range of desirable aesthetic patterns.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a grinder
which is can be adapted to grind a wide variety of objects by using
different types of grinding knifes so as to overcome the
conventional problem that conventional grinders have a rather
narrow range of applications.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present
invention provides a grinder, comprising:
a grinder housing comprising a grinder base and a grinder actuator
detachably coupling with the grinder base, and forming a grinding
compartment therebetween;
a first grinding plate detachably coupling with the grinder
actuator, wherein the first grinding plate has a plurality of first
grinding knifes downwardly and spacedly extended from a bottom side
of the first grinding plate;
a second grinding plate detachably coupling with the grinder base
to define the grinding compartment between a top side of the second
grinding plate and the bottom side of the first grinding plate,
wherein the second grinding plate has a plurality of second
grinding knifes upwardly and spacedly extended from the top side of
the second grinding plate at a position that the first and second
grinding knifes are spacedly disposed within the grinding
compartment, such that when the grinder actuator is turned with
respect to the grinder base to drive the first grinding plate to
rotate, the first and second grinding knifes are correspondingly
moved within the grinding compartment to provide a grinding action;
and
a detachable coupling arrangement comprising a first magnetic
element affixing to the first grinding plate, and a second magnetic
element which is affixed to the second grinding plate to align with
the first magnetic element, wherein the first magnetic element is
magnetically attached to the second magnetic element to detachably
couple the first grinding plate with the second grinding plate so
as to allow the first and second grinding plates detaching with
each other and from the grinder housing.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present
invention will become apparent from the following detailed
description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended
claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a grinder according to a
preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the grinder according to
the above preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagrams of the second grinding plates
according to the above preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the first grinding plate according
to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 2 of the drawings, a grinder for a
predetermined amount and range of objects, such as a predetermined
amount of leaves or tobacco, according to a preferred embodiment of
the present invention is illustrated, in which the grinder
comprises a grinder housing 10, a first grinding plate 20, a second
grinding plate 30, and a detachable coupling arrangement 40.
The grinder housing 10 comprises a grinder base 11 and a grinder
actuator 12 detachably coupling with the grinder base 11, and
forming a grinding compartment 13 therebetween.
The first grinding plate 20 is detachably coupling with the grinder
actuator 12, wherein the first grinding plate 20 has a plurality of
first grinding knifes 21 downwardly and spacedly extended from a
bottom side of the first grinding plate 20.
The second grinding plate 30 is detachably coupling with the
grinder base 11 to define the grinding compartment 13 between a top
side of the second grinding plate 30 and the bottom side of the
first grinding plate 20, wherein the second grinding plate 30 has a
plurality of second grinding knifes 31 upwardly and spacedly
extended from the top side of the second grinding plate 30 at a
position that the first and second grinding knifes 21, 31 are
spacedly disposed within the grinding compartment 13, such that
when the grinder actuator 12 is turned with respect to the grinder
base 11 to drive the first grinding plate 20 to rotate, the first
and the second grinding knifes 21, 31 are correspondingly moved
within the grinding compartment 13 to provide a grinding action for
grinding the objects within the grinding compartment 13.
The detachable coupling arrangement 40 comprises a first magnetic
element 41 affixing to the first grinding plate 20, and a second
magnetic element 42 which is affixed to the second grinding plate
30 to align with the first magnetic element 41, wherein the first
magnetic element 41 is magnetically attached to the second magnetic
element 42 to detachably and rotatably couple the first grinding
plate 20 with the second grinding plate 30 so as to allow the first
and second grinding plates 20, 30 detaching with each other and
from the grinder housing 10 and rotating with each other to
correspondingly move the first and second grinding knifes 21, 22
within the grinding compartment 13.
The grinder actuator 12 comprises a ring shaped transmission member
123 rotatably disposed in the grinding compartment 13 at a position
that an upper circumferential edge 1231 of the transmission member
123 is engaged with a peripheral edge 25 of the first grinding
plate 20 and a lower circumferential edge 1232 of the transmission
member 123 is biased against a peripheral edge 35 of the second
grinding plate 30, and a top actuation cap 124, which is detachably
engaged with the grinder base 11 in a rotatably movable manner,
having a peripheral rim 1241 coupled with the upper circumferential
edge 1231 of the transmission member 123 such that when the top
actuation cap 1233 is rotated, the first grinding plate 20 is
driven to rotate through the transmission member 123 so as to
correspondingly move the first and second grinding knifes 21, 22
within the grinding compartment 13.
The upper circumferential edge 1231 of the transmission member 123,
having a L-shaped cross section, has an inner engaging groove 1235
engaging with the peripheral edge 25 of the first grinding plate 20
so as to embed the first grinding plate 20 at the upper
circumferential edge 1231 of the transmission member 123, such that
the transmission member 123 not only transmits a rotational force
from the top actuation cap 124 to the first grinding plate 20 but
also retains the first and second grinding plates 20, 30 at an
uniform distance.
Accordingly, the peripheral rim 1241 of the top actuation cap 124
has a L-shaped cross section and forming an inner holding groove
1242 to engage with the upper circumferential edge 1231 of the
transmission member 123 and the peripheral edge 25 of the first
grinding plate 20.
The grinder base 11 comprises a tubular shelter 111, which is
detachably engaged with the top actuation cap 124, having an
engaging rib 112 protruding from an inner wall of the tubular
shelter 111 to engage with the peripheral edge 25 of the second
grinding plate 30 so as to retain the second grinding plate 30 in
position. Moreover, the grinder base 11 further comprises a bottom
actuation cap 113 detachably engaging with the tubular shelter 111
and arranged in such a manner that when the top and bottom
actuation caps 124, 113 are rotated back and forth correspondingly,
the first and second grinding knifes 21, 31 are moved rotated back
and forth correspondingly in a grinding manner.
In order to securely retain the grinded objects, the grinder base
11 further comprises a filtering holder 15 detachably mounting
between the bottom actuation cap 113 and the tubular shelter 111
and a filtering layer 16 mounted within the filtering holder 15 for
filtering the grinded objects being dropped from the collecting
holes 31 and collected at the bottom actuation cap 113.
It is worth mentioning that since the first grinding plate 20 is
detachably mounted from the grinder actuator 12, the first grinding
plate 20 is easy to manufacture by conventional manufacturing
process and technology. Moreover, by attaching different first
grinding plates 20, the grinder of the present invention is adapted
to grind a wider category of objects than what could be achieved by
conventional grinders. Having said that, the material for the first
grinding plate 20 is preferably aluminum.
The second grinding plate 30 has a plurality of collecting holes 32
spacedly formed thereon to communicate the grinding compartment 13
with an interior of the bottom actuation cap 113 such that when the
first and second grinding units are driven for grinding objects
within the grinding compartment 13, the grinded objects are dropped
and collected at the bottom actuation cap 113 through the
collecting holes 32.
On the other hand, the detachable coupling arrangement 40 further
comprises a first magnetic housing 43 provided at a center of the
first grinding plate 20 to retain the first magnetic element 41 in
position, and a second magnetic housing 44 protruded from a center
of the second grinding plate 30 to retain the second magnetic
element 42 in position so as to alignedly guide the second magnetic
element 42 to magnetically attach to the first magnetic element
41.
Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 of the drawings, according to the
preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first and second
grinding knifes 21, 31 are perpendicularly extended from the first
and second grinding plates 20, 30 respectively. Moreover, the first
and second grinding plates 20, 30 are supported in a parallel
manner that the first grinding knifes 21 are offset from the second
grinding knifes 31 within the grinding compartment 13 such that a
circular moving path of each of the first grinding knifes 21 is
different from that of each of the second grinding knifes 31. Thus,
when the grinder is grinding objects within the grinding
compartment 13, the first and the second grinding knife 21, 31 will
not collide among themselves and with each other.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the
grinder housing 10 may further comprise a sealing ring 17 disposed
between the first and the second grinding plates 20, 30 at a
peripheral rim thereof in such a manner that when the first and the
second grinding plates 20, 30 are driven to rotate, the sealing
ring 17 is adapted to facilitate smooth rotational movement of
them.
The operation of the present invention is as follows: a user has to
detach the first grinding plate 20 from the second grinding plate
30 in order to dispose a predetermined amount of objects, such as
leaves, into the grinding compartment 13. After that, the user has
to rotatably attach the first grinding plate 20 to the second
grinding plate 30 as retained by the detachably coupling
arrangement 40. A preferred mode of operation is that the user put
the grinder upside down, and then starts grinding the leaves by
rotating the first grinding plate 20 and the second grinding plate
30 in an opposite direction for driving the first and the second
grinding knifes 21, 31 to finely grind the objects within the
grinding compartment 13. After the leaves have been grinded in the
grinding compartment 13, the user has to restore the position of
the grinder so as to allow the grinded leaves to fall into the
filtering layer 16 through the collecting holes 32 formed on the
second grinding plate 30 so that the grinded objects are collected
in the bottom actuation cap 113.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the
present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is
exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have
been fully and effectively accomplished. It embodiments have been
shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional
and structural principles of the present invention and is subject
to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this
invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit
and scope of the following claims.
* * * * *